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Topic: SSC = Starving Silicon City |  |
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La Fayette
b.02-15-99
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posted February 23, 2001 11:53
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City A
Monarchy,Size 8 (with cathedral, temple and 3 units inside, for example), + Library,University, Copernicus and Isaac.
City square + 5 grassland squares provide 18 food/turn (surplus 2). They also provide 6 to 12 arrows (river or no river) and a few shields. 3 Einstein provide the best they can.
No trade route yet.
City A is a typical SSC under growth. Beakers produced: 9*6=54 by the Einsteins + 8*6=48 by the arrows (12 arrows and cursor at sciencemax=70%) (total=102 beakers).City B
Monarchy, Size 20 (with temple and 3 units inside, for example), + Library, University, Copernicus and Isaac + aqueduct and sewer system.
City square + 4 grassland squares provide 15 food/turn ( 25 food/turn needed to avoid starving). They also provide 5 to 10 arrows (river?) and a few shields. 16 Einstein provide the best they can.
No trade route yet.
City B is a typical "Starving Silicon City". Beakers produced: 48*6=288 by the Einsteins + 7*6=42 by the arrows (total=330 beakers). The growth from A to B requires Construction, Sanitation, 12 turns and 24 food caravans (the price of 2 modern wonders).
1 food caravan fills 1/2 food box (containing 105 food in city B). This means that city B needs a sister city able to produce 12 shields/turn to avoid starving. Main advantages:
Colossus, Republic, Market Place, Colosseum, Mike, JSB, not needed; you can even sell your cathedral.
You just stay in Monarchy and go on conquering if you feel like it.
Your rate of research remains very high during growth from A to B (and of course you don't forget to establish 3 strong trade routes, probably giving 20 arrows, hence 80 beakers on top of the 330 that I mentioned). ------------------
aux bords mystérieux du monde occidental |
DaveV
b.02-15-99
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posted February 23, 2001 12:59
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quote:
Originally posted by La Fayette on 02-23-2001 11:53 AM
The growth from A to B requires ... 24 food caravans (the price of 2 modern wonders).
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Yes, but if you spend 60 shields on a granary (or 200 shields for pyramids), it only takes 12 caravans to grow. Surely one of the best investments in the game! quote:
Originally posted by La Fayette on 02-23-2001 11:53 AM
you can even sell your cathedral.
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... and your aqueduct and sewer system, if you don't want to grow beyond size 20. Or, you can grow to size 36: 16 more einsteins, for 288 more arrows. And 32 more food needed... quote:
Originally posted by La Fayette on 02-23-2001 11:53 AM
This means that city B needs a sister city able to produce 12 shields/turn to avoid starving.
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I presume you meant 12 food/turn. But you need 12 sister cities, since each city can only provide one food to the SSC via food routes, I believe. Edited because I didn't understand the concept at first  ! Question: if all other cities have three trade routes to this monster trade center, at what point is it better to put the einsteins to work producing trade arrows?
[This message has been edited by DaveV (edited February 23, 2001).] |
Edward
b.02-15-99
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posted February 23, 2001 15:36
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La Fayette,Let me see if I have this straight. You start out with city A (8 population). You use the one-time food bonus from the incoming food caravans to grow to size 20 or so. As you grow, new workers are turned into Einsteins. You add an aqueduct and sewer system as necessary. You don't need Colossus or Republic since the Starving Silicon City is getting most of its beakers via einsteins instead of raw trade arrows. (Colossus & Republic add trade to worked squares which we're keeping to a minimum.) A Super Science City without Colossus!? What blasphemy! We don't need Michaelangelo's Cathedral, J.S. Bach's Chapel, a colosseum, a cathedral, and a marketplace because almost all the citizens are einsteins (and therefore are immune to unhappiness). The remaining 4 citizens are kept happy with the temple and 3 martial law units. It looks like your *6 beaker factor comes from: normal beakers *2 (for library/university combo)) *2 (for Copernicus's Observatory) *1.5 (for Sir Issac Newton's College). I always thought the wonders' factors added in (like city improvements) instead of compounding one another. Guess I've been underestimating their power. I don't understand how the number of shields produced in the sister city(s) has any bearing on avoiding starvation. Did you mean to say 12 food/turn? Your strategy is very clever. Use einsteins to avoid unhappiness while keeping beaker production up. Use food caravans to rapidly reach your desired size and to maintain the food deficit. Nice work! |
Blaupanzer
b.02-15-99
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posted February 23, 2001 16:11
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Twelve shields a turn is sufficient to produce 1 food caravan every 5 turns with 10 leftover. Not clear on the relevancy of those numbers (1 per 5 or 10 leftover). |
La Fayette
b.02-15-99
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posted February 26, 2001 12:32
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Dave
1) Granary
Of course I build a granary (just forgot mentioning it, bad boy) and 12 caravans are needed for growth. But, maximizing research during growth of the city means starving all the time, hence 1 caravan against starvation + 1 caravan for growth means 2 caravans/turn.
(of course one can make it cheaper: for example keeping the cathedral and building a colosseum allows to grow to size 15+ without food deficit, with a sacrifice on research meanwhile).
2) Cathedral, aqueduct, sewer system
In fact the cathedral is not required in city A (I mentioned it for the fun of being able to sell it later on).
Aqueduct and sewer system are nice to keep in view of later growth, but AFAIK 16 Einstein is the max.
3) 12 shields/turn
The SSC is starving: 40-15=25 food are needed each turn to avoid starvation. 1 food caravan brings 1/2 food box (21*5=105 food at size 20). Hence, the sister city must send 1 food caravan every 105/25=4,2 turn, which means a capacity to produce 50/4,2=12 shields/turn (or partly rushbuilding if the production is lower).
This means 1 sister city, no more, producing 12 shields, no more.
4) At what point is it better to put the einsteins to work producing trade arrows?
It seems to me that trade routes have no influence on this (though they are welcome). I would say that 1 einstein produces the equivalent of 3 arrows; hence if you can get more than 3 arrows from 1 square (being in Rep or Demo, rivered and roaded grassland, Colossus, Motorways, ...is there anything else?) and you have no happiness problems, then skip the einstein and choose the worker. This is the "classical" SSC I read about, isn't it?------------------
aux bords mystérieux du monde occidental |
La Fayette
b.02-15-99
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posted February 26, 2001 12:56
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quote:
Originally posted by Edward on 02-23-2001 03:36 PM
You start out with city A (8 population).
You use the one-time food bonus from the incoming food caravans to grow to size 20 or so. As you grow, new workers are turned into Einsteins. You add an aqueduct and sewer system as necessary. You don't need Colossus or Republic since the Starving Silicon City is getting most of its beakers via einsteins instead of raw trade arrows. (Colossus & Republic add trade to worked squares which we're keeping to a minimum.) A Super Science City without Colossus!? What blasphemy! We don't need Michaelangelo's Cathedral, J.S. Bach's Chapel, a colosseum, a cathedral, and a marketplace because almost all the citizens are einsteins (and therefore are immune to unhappiness). The remaining 4 citizens are kept happy with the temple and 3 martial law units. It looks like your *6 beaker factor comes from: normal beakers *2 (for library/university combo)) *2 (for Copernicus's Observatory) *1.5 (for Sir Issac Newton's College). I always thought the wonders' factors added in (like city improvements) instead of compounding one another. Guess I've been underestimating their power.
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Very good summary, Edward, thank you.
I have given information about the sister city and the 12 shields, replying to Dave. May I add that, with a granary (that I forgot mentioning when writing the first post, sorry, sorry ) the level of food in the box is close to the green line halfway down. One doesn't need to send exactly 1 caravan every 4,2 turns; 4,2 is an average, not a requirement. Blaupanzer
I hope this answer about the 12 shields in the sister city is also OK for you. In fact the number of shields produced in the sister city is not important at all, since one can always use gold (or rehoming) to achieve the objective of building 1 caravan every 4,2 turn. |
Edward
b.02-15-99
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posted February 27, 2001 12:22
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La Fayette,Another caravan every 4.2 turns! Yikes! I didn't realize this was necessary. I was under the impression that a bunch of permanent food routes supplied the Starving Silicon City with it's needed food. I guess a bunch of permanent food routes would mean you'd loose 25 food per turn from the various cities. Surely your way (only loosing 12 shields/turn) is superior. | |
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